Jarrod & Me

I ran into my buddy Jarrod a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't seen him in ages. He was extremely excited about turning 12 the next day.

I first met Jarrod's family when he was 8. Jarrod is lively, intelligent, totally gets sarcastic humor and he loves to cook. Jarrod can't speak and has limited use of his hands. He travereses each day in a high tech wheelchair outfitted with an audible keyboard...he can hit a preset landscape of programmed words/images or he can flip the keyboard over and type his own words. Shortly after we met his parents hosted a huge Italian themed potluck party. While his mom was feeding him he asked her to ask me what I had brought for the dinner (she can understand him without his keyboard). I told him the name of the dish and proceeded to start talking about something else. He became visibly agitated, but without his keyboard he couldn't tell me what was wrong. His mom was able to discern that he wanted to know how I made the dish, not just the name of it. So, I took him through the ingredients and instructions, the same as if I were sharing the recipe with an adult. At the age of 8 Jarrod looked me straight in the eye the entire time, taking in all the details. Joy radiated from him with each tidbit of information. He then asked who I liked watching on Food Network and invited me to see his "kitchen" in his room.

The next morning at church Jared came flying up in his wheelchair, eyes shining and grinning from ear to ear, he typed "I want to cook with you." At the time I thought it was sweet, but in retrospect I realize what a powerful statement that is. "I want to cook with you says "I love you," "let's prepare something special for each other and our loved ones," "let's share ideas." Most if all, for Jared and me, it says "cooking together is a special language all its' own," with or without a keyboard." Talk about out of the mouths of babes...I want to cook with you.